The General Clinical Research Center of the Downstate Medical Center is now in its 10th year of operation. The CRC acts as the central clinical facility for inpatient human investigation in the Downstate Medical Center complex. Patients from State University Hospital, Kings County Hospital and several affiliated hospitals and their clinics are admitted to the CRC for study of their disease processes. Studies are carried out by individual investigators and investigative groups who have submitted prior protocols and are carrying on continued investigation of certain defined disease entities. These projects include investigations of the renal handling of uric acid and its role in the production of gout; the metabolic effects of portal caval shunt with arterial vascularization in the cirrhotic patient; the role of intestinal absorbents in delaying the need for dialysis, or transplantation, in the uremic patient, and the effects of metabolities of Vitamin D on calcium balance in a variety of disease states. In addition, studies are carried out on individual patients when unusual findings dictate. The latter category of patients would include those with nephrotically found metabolic abnormalities, or the unusual immunodeficiency syndromes.